I think I am tired of being "Green".

Fortune said:
Were glass bottles for soft drinks reused on the past? I know milk bottles were.
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Yes they were IIRC I used to get five pence for every bottle returned but it was only on big bottles
I don't think we had small bottles except in pubs, shops sold big bottles and cans in the seventies
 
demoivre said:
Penalising folks for using their recycling bins from February 1st takes beating in fairness. The only saving grace is these green fanatics will be booted in to political oblivion at the next election. Can't come quickly enough.
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Back to FF?
 
clinteastwood said:
Did that affect affordability, in any meaningful way, except for children having more pocket money and your environment cleaner
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It must have had. Soft drinks were a luxury back then and incomes were very low. As kids, we all wore hand-me-down clothes for example.

The environment wasn't very clean though. In summer, we'd often see dead fish in rivers. Illegal dumping was absolutely rife.
 
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Cervelo said:
Yes they were IIRC I used to get five pence for every bottle returned but it was only on big bottles
I don't think we had small bottles except in pubs, shops sold big bottles and cans in the seventies
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It's the pub bottles I was thinking of. Were they ever reused?
 
Not this old chestnut again...

Bananas go off quickly if exposed to air and if stored near other fruit will contaminate it and cause it to go off too.

The plastic wrapping is to avoid unnecessary food waste.

Really not sure about this statement. If it is true why aren't all bananas wrapped in plastic? Some aren't. Why are lemons in plastic nets? These plastics nets aren't going to protect the lemons during transportation - but it does encourage you to buy three lemons when sometimes one is enough. Carrots last a long time when I take the plastic wrapper off them at home. Potatoes do just fine in a paper bag. I put all my fruit in one bowl - doesn't get contaminated if they're all fresh.

I'm not a food or transportation expert - just a consumer - but really think its a lot about maximising profit. Which is fine for supermarkets - that's their business. But because of this, I do think think regulations need to be imposed on them, rather than waiting for them to do it.
 
Kilkenny Lass said:
Not this old chestnut again...

Bananas go off quickly if exposed to air and if stored near other fruit will contaminate it and cause it to go off too.

The plastic wrapping is to avoid unnecessary food waste.

Really not sure about this statement.
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Look it up.
Kilkenny Lass said:
If it is true why aren't all bananas wrapped in plastic? Some aren't.
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You'll notice in shops that bananas are kept well away from other fruit and are indeed unwrapped and taken out of boxes a short time before sale..
 
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Kilkenny Lass said:
I'm not a food or transportation expert - just a consumer - but really think its a lot about maximising profit.
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Many of these packaging trends are consumer led. Potatoes having long shelf lives are still often sold in paper, though some suppliers have integrated a plastic mesh window to allow you see the contents. Lemons, carrots etc. have much shorter shelf lives and consumers won't purchase them if they can't see what they're buying. Bagging and netting small quantities enables greater speed of scanning at checkout.

Convenience is a big factor, consumers now don't want to be messing around picking through fruit or veg, you can see in the shops where they have both loose and packaged options of the same item, the packaged is in greater demand. Also, greater concerns around hygiene means many are put off buying food items that may have been handled by many people with questionable personal hygiene.
 
Leper said:
Dead Right! People can't be bothered doing the "right" thing - That's what Ireland is and probably always was.

I go to our local Farmers Market every week - the bins provided by the local authority are jammed with used plastic/paper cups always there . People can't be bothered bringing their used cups home for disposal - their diesel powered vehicles might become contaminated. Us locals don't want extra bins, they're unsightly and say more about the Irish than Pádraig Pearse.

Then there's my neighbour who goes on "retreat" to the bottle bank with one empty bottle and of course burning diesel in her jeep on her trip. Green, How Are Ya?

I mentioned the news item earlier where in Waterford some housing estates had more rubbish in their recycle bins than recyclables. It's the same in parts of Cork where (people don't even pay their refuse charges) amass their bins at the entrance to their estates for collection by anybody who's prepared to collect them (usually the City Council workers).

Russia and China who are polluting the entire planet don't give a whit anyway. The only way they'll be brought on-side is leaving them stew in their own pollution until they get their act together. It's like tidying up after teenagers, you do it and they'll let you do it. they'll start to see reality when you refuse to clean up their mess.

And our so-called Green People want us to eat less meat, recycle more, walk or cycle instead of motoring, etc. I know what I'm doing in the next elections when I separate the Green contestants (and not forgetting those who claim to be "Green of Centre") and give my first, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th 6th, 7th, 8th preferences to every other name on the ballot paper. While I'm at it, I'll ignore the candidates who say "Vote for me because I am a woman" also.
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Goodness me. You've inspired me to give the Green Party candidate my first preference vote.
 
T McGibney said:
It must have had. Soft drinks were a luxury back then and incomes were very low. As kids, we all wore hand-me-down clothes for example.

The environment wasn't very clean though. In summer, we'd often see dead fish in rivers. Illegal dumping was absolutely rife.
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Glass doesn't kill fish. It's ecoli from runnoff of faeces and nitrogen & phosphates. Another issue Irelands so called green image conveniently ignores, has to be dragged into complying with.
Only now finally stopping dumping of city faeces into our rivers and beaches due to EU mandates. Progress!!

Ireland of 70s was a very backward conservative , perhaps a legacy of colonial rule we still have today in our attitudes to looking after ourselves
 
SoylentGreen said:
Bananas are different to other fruits. We were talking about bananas in particular not fruits in general.
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Well I'm talking about the packaging of all fruit and vegetables - I just used bananas as an example in my original post.

Leo said:
Convenience is a big factor, consumers now don't want to be messing around picking through fruit or veg, you can see in the shops where they have both loose and packaged options of the same item, the packaged is in greater demand.
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Price is probably a factor in this too as packaged items are often be cheaper for some reason???

time to plan said:
Goodness me. You've inspired me to give the Green Party candidate my first preference vote.
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I'll be giving them a vote too. I know they're not perfect but think its important to have some elected representations who are pushing green policies - don't trust the other parties to do this.
 
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